Fuck the Seattle Times editorial board

Generally, I try to be polite to reporters, columnists and editorialists, because I generally like them when I meet them, and because it’s kind of hard to be taken as credible by people who hate me. But fuck ’em anyway.

What I want to know is which one of them has such close ties to Montlake Elementary that they would be prompted to write such an indefensible defense of the CAC’s most blatantly bizarre decision:

Montlake Elementary School is an example. Manhas recommended shuttering the school and dispersing its students, an idea parents resoundingly and reasonably rejected. The current proposal would move Montlake to nearby Seward, keeping students together and a successful academic program intact.

Oh my God, gimme a fucking break!

If anybody has an easy case to make against the CAC’s school closure list, it’s the families of the TOPS program at Seward, who are being totally screwed to accommodate the selfish land-grab of the affluent, politically connected parents at Montlake.

“A successful academic program”…? Montlake isn’t a “program.” It’s a school that attracts wealthy professional class families from the neighborhood… families with the time and money to give their school resources most other schools can only dream of. And yet the district recommended closing it last year due to under-enrollment.

But not this year. No, this year they manage to put a Montlake parent on the CAC, and behold… not only is their school saved, it’s moved into one of the most beautiful facilities in the city, bumping out TOPS in the process, perhaps the most popular and sought after K-8 program in the district. Apparently Montlake also has a representative on the Times editorial board… and I’m more than a little bit curious as to who it might be.

I mean, let’s just look at how fundamentally stupid this proposal really is. According to the CAC’s own capacity analysis, Montlake currently has an enrollment of 247 students, while TOPS is bursting at its seams with 527 students — 6 more than the Seward building’s planned capacity of 521… a building that was specifically modified to accommodate the needs of middle school students.

Yet the CAC proposes moving Montlake into Seward — a facility more than twice the capacity it needs — while the over-enrolled TOPS is moved to Thurgood Marshall, a building with a planned capacity of only 422. To effectively handle the TOPS program in its current form, Thurgood Marshall is going to have to be expanded and renovated at great cost to tax payers, and with great disruption to the students. Yeah… voters are going to be all over that levy, especially after we just spent tens of millions of dollars renovating schools the district now wants to shut down (you know, like the $5.2 million at my daughter’s Graham Hill.)

If the Montlake “program” really needs room to grow, why not just move it to Thurgood Marshall, which is less than a 10 minute drive down MLK, and not much further than Seward? If Montlake’s high test scores are really the result of some special “program” rather than the money and parental involvement that comes from being situated in an affluent neighborhood, then surely it would flourish from its move into the larger (if rundown) Thurgood Marshall building on the edge of the Central District.

No doubt, Montlake’s a good school, its parents’ enormous contributions in time, money and passion are laudable, and there are plenty of good arguments to keep it open. But destroy the TOPS program in the process? That deserves being highlighted in the Times as one of the CAC’s better decisions? What the fuck?!

That alone is enough to completely destroy the Times‘ credibility on the school closure issue — they’re either not paying close enough attention to what is really happening, or they’re purposely spinning their readers. But they nearly top themselves with the following doozy:

The citizens panel appropriately stepped beyond closures to highlight equity issues, namely the scarcity of alternative schools south of the Ship Canal. The schools are popular, innovative and clustered largely in the northwestern section of the city.

And yet the CAC didn’t move a single alternative program into the South End, they didn’t provide a solution to the New School and Orca’s long standing (and long promised) aspirations to become K-8 programs, and they eliminated one of the only truly innovative, alternative programs in the region, the popular Montessori Pre-K through 5 at Graham Hill (not to mention the school’s special ed and autism programs.)

In case you can’t tell, lip service like this just really pisses me off. The Times‘ biased and premature editorial was a disservice to its readers, and a whitewash of a school closure list that is just as inequitable and inexplicable as the first… if different.

The Times should stick to subjects it knows well… like advocating for eliminating all taxes on the families of multi-millionaires. At least there they have their misleading rhetoric down pat.

The new environment and the “guvment” education provided by the new NEA run school will ensure your daughter understands diversity and respects all races. She will not be able to read, write, or exhibit math skills, but she will know all about “Earth Day”, “Global Warming”, Jesse Jackson, Al Gore, and MLK Jr.

“If the Montlake “program” really needs room to grow, why not just move it to Thurgood Marshall, which is less than a 10 minute drive down MLK, and not much further than Seward?… it would flourish from its move into the larger (if rundown) Thurgood Marshall building on the edge of the Central District.”

Silly question… You can’t expect those rich kids to stoop that low… Seattle SD wastes a lot of time worrying about racism… They ought to take a good look at the class perks the rich routinely reap at the expense of poor kids who really need the attention…

6….Oh, A your daughter will learn to understand Bush caused Hurricane Katrina and she will also learn to love us Kennedys. [My cousin Michael Skakel wants to know how old is your daughter and is she hot?]

Silly question… You can’t expect those rich kids to stoop that low… Seattle SD wastes a lot of time worrying about racism… They ought to take a good look at the class perks the rich routinely reap at the expense of poor kids who really need the attention…

Fuck the Times? Fuck the pampered rich… Privilege is unamerican.

Commentby Playin Possum— [………………………………………………………………… Karl Marx couldn’t have said it better. The rich are stealing from the poor. “Fuck the pampered rich”. Thet need to have all their wealth “redistributed” by Hillary.] hehe, JCH

I’ve always had issues with the Times opinion board — used to freelance for them and truly despised some of their completely unfounded commentary on environmental issues. It’s one thing if someone writes a smart, educated editorial with which I disagree; I respect anyone who can make a good point, but a lot of the stuff the Times prints reads too much like a high school paper.

The accumulation of privilege is destructive to a society and dangerous to the to those it is bestowed upon. If you studied history you would understand this.

There is a distinction between accumulation of wealth and privilege, although it eludes many.

Commentby Playin Possum— 5/21/06@ 11:48 am [………………………………………………………………….PP, You mean like Fidel of Cuba [worth 900 billion], Dear Leader in North Korea, the Clintons and Kennedys, and Robert “commie” Mugabe in Harare, Zimbabwe? Note the lack of capitalism and freedom in each of these examples. Also note how you dumbass libs love each of these commie “progressives” because they hate Bush.]

10, Goldystein, Looks like the Democrat NEA and Democrat school board is going to fuck you up the ass and close your kid’s school. Ironic, isn’t it? hehe, JCH Kennedy [My family does as we wish, and you dumb ass Democrats just keep voting for us!!!]

Goldy, I share your ire but none of this surprises me. It’s like expecting honest policy from BushCo. You can’t trust anything Seattle Schools dishes up. They have a record of criminal incompetence. And it’s beyond sad that an institution that has our kids for six hours a day can’t be trusted.

I’m sorry your school is on the block. (We were lucky. Ours was spared but we’re still not getting answers on expansion to K-8.) The Montlake/TOPS decision is entirely predictable. What angers me is the thought of the millions that will be spent on yet plan to close the achievement (i.e. redline) gap. Meanwhile, schools that are quietly addressing the issue are being closed or uprooted.

You CAN’T just up and move a living, breathing school and expect it to flourish no matter where it’s planted. The transportation issues alone will prevent many students from moving with their school. And once again, you can’t trust that the school will move intact, since the district loves to cover up their staffing problems by constantly playing musical chairs with teachers and principals.

People who can’t even balance a check book are still telling us that killing schools that work will save money. But so far, they’ve provided nothing that PROVES they’ll save money, much less pump it back into classrooms.

I never thought I’d say this, but having Nichols and Co. take over the district might be our best option! The instability is unfair to parents and damaging to our kids.

Why would anyone who gives a fuck about their kids let them go to a seattle school? Easily the worst district in the whole feminist utiopia. Who gives a fuck which ones they close? Shit, they’re all bad.

They teach that only whites are racist, and that “having a future time orientation” is also racist. WTF? Read the hateful shit below that they spew out and tell me why you’d want to send your kid to a shithole seattle school.

MTR, if your goal is to win hearts and minds, it would help if you would explain what specific issues you have with the content of that link.

Perhaps you didn’t learn this in college, but in order to make a convincing argument you first have to provide a coherent argument backed by evidence. All you’ve done is posted a link and thrown around sophisticated words like “hateful shit.”

Post 13, Although moving drugs from Latin America to Miami makes a shitload, liberal “progressive” Fidel Castro is worth around 800 MILLION by Forbes mag. My mistake and my typo. Best regards and Fuck you to “progressive” communists on HA. ORG. JCH Kennedy

Yes, all those and more… Like our three-generations privileged President George “I dodged the Guard” Bush”…

Commentby Playin Possum— 5/21/06@ 1:15 pm […………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Oh PP, I must have missed your post on President Clinton’s military service. Could you repost?? Thanks in advance, JCH Kennedy]

Jeepers Goldy, The Democrats running Seattle finally screwed you, like the rest of us have been getting screwed for decades. Quit yer bitchin and get used to it. Don’t you know the same richies you and your crew are whining about are the Seattle power brokers that pull the Democratic party strings?

24, PP, Will you be voting for Hillary, “who earned her position through her own talents”?? And, “But at least slick willie earned his position through his own talents, instead of through his daddy’s and granddaddy’s.”…………….[As a Kennedy I really don’t appreciate your last post!!]

Sen. John Kerry joined most of his Democratic colleagues last week in voting to build a wall along 370 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border.

But he now says that after the wall is built it should be taken down as soon as possible.

“I voted for it,” Kerry acknowledged Friday while speaking to the New England Council breakfast.

But in quotes picked up by the Boston Herald, the Massachusetts Democrat added: “If I were making the long-term decision, I’d announce, you know, hopefully it’s a temporary measure, and we can take it down.” [………………………………………………………………..This is great!!! John Fucking Kerry voted for the fence after he voter against it, or, is it he voted against the fence before he voted for it??]

Timesheets are due by the close of business on Friday, May 26. Remember that you must provide documentation of all blog comments.

By the beginning of August we will be instigating a performance measurement system. Next month you will receive information on how the outcomes of your blog participation will be ranked. Number of submissions will no longer be the sole method of establishing payment.

Thumb – The fact that you think it requires explanation tells me everything I need to know about you. Shit, no wonder you’re a librul… you don’t even recognize evil when it’s put right in front of you.

GreenThumb@29 I dunno, Green Thumb, Mark the Retarded Redneck has shown precious little education, but lots of specious claims. He claims to have some knowledge of engineering, but has never been able to discuss the engineering significance of either Galloping Gerty . When he was displaying his ignorance of our oil economy pickle he couldn’t discuss the difference between a Carnot Cycle engine and a Stirling Cycle engine and why that difference might help his beloved ‘Murka’ in its time of need. And finally, despite his claims to some sort of computer competence, his lameass excuse for not paying his debt to Goldy was that he could not figure out a Paypal button. (Probably didn’t have a valid credit card. . .)

I know it is difficult for the wingnut element of your brain (which seems to be spreading like an infection across the good parts of your brain) to comprehend this, Richard, but some people use things like facts, evidence, logic, and principles rather than the political affiliation of the “target” when developing an argument for or against something.

In my experience, it is brainless Republican zombies who feel compelled to follow the 11th commandment, and are averse to being encumbered by things like reason, evidence, or principles other than political affiliation.

In my experience, it is brainless Republican zombies who feel compelled to follow the 11th commandment, and are averse to being encumbered by things like reason, evidence, or principles other than political affiliation.

Commentby dj— 5/21/06@ 4:32 pm […………………………………………………………….dj, Shut the fuck up and vote for us Kennedys. It really is that simple.]

This has to relate somehow to the schools issue and the general elitism of some of our local “leaders” and their consitents:

There’s a piece in today’s Sunday Times of the Garfield High School jazz band competing at the national “Essentially Ellington” competition. Except for Clarence Acox, EVERYONE ON THE STAGE IS WHITE! It looks more than anything else like the Garfield Rich Kids’ Norwegian Jazz Ensemble.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court document released Sunday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer.

At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company’s deal for work in Africa.

As Jefferson and the informant passed notes about what percentage the lawmaker’s family might receive, the congressman “began laughing and said, ‘All these damn notes we’re writing to each other as if we’re talking, as if the FBI is watching,'” according to the affidavit.

Jefferson, who represents New Orleans, has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.

As for the $100,000, the government says Jefferson got the money in a leather briefcase last July 30 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington. The plan was for the lawmaker to use the cash to bribe a high-ranking Nigerian official — the name is blacked out in the court document — to ensure the success of a business deal in that country, the affidavit said.

All but $10,000 was recovered on Aug. 3 when the FBI searched Jefferson’s home in Washington. The money was stuffed in his freezer, wrapped in $10,000 packs and concealed in food containers and aluminum foil.

Bellevue A Bellevue Community College administrator has recommended a week’s suspension without pay for an instructor who wrote a racially insensitive math question that sparked a national controversy last month.

Peter Ratener should be suspended because he did not meet two faculty standards: choosing appropriate test materials and treating students with respect, according to a letter to Ratener from Ron Leatherbarrow, executive dean of instructional services.

BCC President Jean Floten is expected to hear Ratener’s appeal early next month and will then have 10 days to make a decision.

The math question that sparked controversy presented a scenario about “Condoleezza” throwing a watermelon off a roof.

School officials have said this demeaned U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and employed a racist caricature of blacks eating watermelons that dates to the 1800s.

Ratener said Saturday the math question was “an embarrassing and careless error,” but that the penalty is too heavy because the question was not politically or racially motivated, and he has an otherwise clean disciplinary record in 25 years of teaching at the school.

Frog and Thumb – Sure is interesting that yo wanna know about Tacoma Narrows bridge. My daughter just studied that in her high school physics class. Is that where you got the idea?

Go study the history of suspension bridges and see how they made them longer and more slender and lighter as they went. Look up “karmen vortex” and see what you can learn. When you know enough for me to help you, please ask questions.

Or you could be typical dumass librul and jus’ say “the wind blew it down.” That’s probably good enough for you…

RUFUS, JCH, and Pat Kennedy – Given our proclivity for excessive drinking, it seems rathah obvious to me that soon we will all need new livahs. Now, I’m sure that the Murkan people would agree that we should not be forced to wait for new livahs like commonahs given our selfless dedication to public service all these years.

Ovah the years, we have killed many women and buried many good serviceable livahs. That is a waste. So I’m wondering if the next ones we drown should become livah donahs. I’m sure they would be proud to have a piece of them actually living in our bodies.

Do you think we could get away with this? I realize that some of those wingnuts on the right might take issue with this, but I think we deserve unlimited free health care at the taxpayers expense and at the expense of a few expendable young women.

Pope @ 31: “Goldy – aren’t all of the members of the Seattle School Board (as well as every other elected official from Seattle) DEMOCRATS? If that is correct, how could these DEMOCRATS possibly make a mistake in your book?”

Commentby Richard Pope— 5/21/06@ 4:08 pm

Do you really think this way? As if every policy must be viewed through the lens of party, with one party all good and the other all evil?

That’s just bizarre. If you can’t understand why, perhaps you should enter therapy.

Nine months after Hurricane Katrina swamped his city and transformed him from virtual shoo-in to ripe target, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin eked his way into a second term Saturday, besting Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu to maintain leadership of a city still languishing in ruin.

Nagin, a former cable television executive who ran as a political outsider four years ago, overcame withering criticism of his performance in the months since the Aug. 29 storm. Acknowledging that the effort to restore basic municipal services has been painfully slow, Nagin has blamed the lack of progress on a failure of state and federal government to come to the aid of a city reeling from the worst urban natural disaster in American history.

With his victory, Nagin kept alive a 60-year win streak for incumbents and continued the era of African-American leadership in the mayor’s office, which began when Landrieu’s father, Moon Landrieu, left office in 1978.

Roger and Gang does that means Seattle will support the victim hood game and allow only Mexicans run for city offices? That means the Socialist Democrats will have to include Mexicans into their proud party. Now Che (Ernesto Guevara de la Serna) will be represented in the local government and Castro will send an ambassador to the Republic of Seattle. The City will have a new icon on Freemont Street a new Statue of Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, along with Guevara became an icon of socialist revolutionary movements worldwide. Lenin (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov) now will have more support in this great city of Seattle. Lets not forget to purchase a icon of Saddam Hussein to park out side Jim McDermott house on top of the hill. Now all we need now is a school teachers who support all the failures in the school district to be place on red bricks in the Red Square.

Updated: 1:20 p.m. PT May 21, 2006 MEXICO CITY – If Arnold Schwarzenegger had migrated to Mexico instead of the United States, he couldn’t be a governor. If Argentina native Sergio Villanueva, firefighter hero of the Sept. 11 attacks, had moved to Tecate instead of New York, he wouldn’t have been allowed on the force. Even as Mexico presses the United States to grant unrestricted citizenship to millions of undocumented Mexican migrants, its officials at times calling U.S. policies “xenophobic,” Mexico places daunting limitations on anyone born outside its territory. In the United States, only two posts — the presidency and vice presidency — are reserved for the native born.

For those who think Klake should be taken seriously, he should be. Klake believes that Blacks and Indians owned more slaves than white people did. To support his belief he used The Barnes Review.

blockquote cite=” Short order history lesson, if you need more info let me know. Thanks klakehttp://americancivilwar.com/au.....owners.htm DIXIEâ€™S CENSORED SUBJECT BLACK SLAVEOWNERS By Robert M. Grooms ï¿½ 1997 (THIS ARTICLE IS COPYRIGHTED AND IS PROVIDED HERE COURTESY OF THE BARNES REVIEW) Comment by klake â€” 3/16/06 @ 8:58 pm “> The Barnes Review is a Nazi publication, and the horribly racist and completely incorrect belief that Blacks and Indians owned more slaves than white people did, is clearly racist nonsense.

You learn so much on these lefty websites. Just the other day I learned that you have a much higher probability of getting a DUI if you drink than those who dont drink. Amazing. I am sure glad I am a Kennedy, I would hate to get a DUI.

MarktheRetardedRedNeck@46 So you finally Googled an answer. Wow. But like everything you do you are more than a day late and a dollar short. The two Gerties are discussed at the very beginning of any quality Engineering course as representative of the state of Engineering knowledge, and the sometimes unfortunate way it is advanced. IF you have any engineering at all, you must have gotten it by sending in a matchbook cover. For your lame, late (weeks) response, I give you a failing grade. You apparently don’t even wish to attempt the two heat cycles. That’s because you are an ignorant, posturing Troll who welshes on his bets.

Oh yes Donna, with these prices new oil being discovered as we speak! Just ask the Chicoms off of Cuba and the Russians off of Alaska! I guess the ZERO SUM is the new game in town. Just for Americans! NOT for commies!!!

Trolls: We don’t hate America and all the freedom and liberties the Constitution and Declaration of Independence THEORETICALLY give us. We hate all the conservatives starting with A.Hamilton and J. Adams who seem determined to wave the flag and simultaneously take those freedoms away. It’s a direct line of mental deficit that goes from our conservative founding “jump-on the bandwagon as long as they’re winning” fathers and their 3/5 compromise ( They’re slaves and not human, but we want to represent them anyway) to their slack-jawed progeny typing on their keyboards today.

Trolls: We don’t hate America> We hate you! And as long as Halliburton built those concentration camps…

dimbulb @#7……..”Fuck the Times? Fuck the pampered rich… Privilege is unamerican.” now doesn’t this just say it all? all you need to know about goldy[oh, excuse me…”playin possum”….]….and his ever present whining and scarcity thinking abilities? privilege is unamerican? i guess what you are really referring to is, in your world, wealth is unamerican. wealth generally comes from not sitting on your ass bitching into a computer all day as if the world would end if no one heard your [very silly] opinions. goldy…get a J-O-B. then you too could be one of us “wealthy” folks that work 18 hour days and provide jobs for other people at the same time. although i did understand your point about your daughter’s school. montessori?? oh, for cripes sake…what a joke that program is. but i guess if she’s going to follow in her dad’s footsteps she should learn how to sweep now…it might come in handy later when she DOESN’T WANT TO WORK EITHER.

Donna: Your stubby fat fingers didn’t type this? “BUT PuddyBud, this is all very enlightening, but it says NOTHING about what Lucy was discussing which is the that the Oli Industry operates as a zero sum game.” Hmmm… look at those last three words. You typed them and you referred to a earlier commentary! You chose horseless losselips side of the argument. Therefore you have some agreement!

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